While developing I take external backups every day (or more often if I reach a significant point)

If at some point if I wish to just try something out which might significantly change the structure I throw the file icon into a folder on my desktop called mini backups so I can easily revert to the last known good point.

My question is do I have to close the file before I do this or can I do it with the file open?

TIA

Phil

ps Sorry if this is posted in the wrong place. I could not spot where else to put it.

Phil:

Although I believe you can get away with it, I wouldn't do it that way myself. To me, "Save a Copy As..." is the way to go.

My process is to use "Save a Copy As..." every fifteen or twenty minutes as I work - even if I'm only testing, as I sometimes forget if I've changed anything - and then, when I am about to embark on any kind of major change, I will close the file and drag a copy to my "In Progress" folder, which is on a secondary drive. This replaces the current "In Progress" item for the same project, but I have what amounts to an audit trail of copies, auto-named by the "Save a Copy As..." process, so I can always back-track step-by-step if I need to.

-Stanley

Thanks Stanley

Phil

I've gotten into the habit of putting a date and revision number into the file name of my working copy. With the file closed, I make a copy of it and change the name (e.g., Process 12-14-05 R1.fp7). I also include that same date and revision into a version field in a Preferences table. I remove the date and rev number before delivering it to a client.

I also provide an "About" screen with my email address. When a client clicks on it, it uses the Send Mail function to open their email client with the version in the subject line. That way, if they have a question or find a bug, I know exactly which version they are using. This is very helpful when I'm making improvements to their solution because I can go back to that same version and check it out.

HTH, Mike